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Topic: AMBIcon 2013 Update (Read 18017 times)

Hello Hynos forum...just reviewed this thread and would like to update everyone on what's happening with the AMBIcon event in San Rafael, CA, May 3-5, 2013.

By now you all know we added JEFF PEARCE to the list of performers in October. This month we learned that David Darling would not be able to make it. We were very pleased to get HANS CHRISTIAN to replace him. If David is the grandfather of improvising cellists, Hans is one of his most talented and dedicated progeny.

JUST ADDED: I'm very happy to announce that MARK PRENDERGAST, author of the definitive book "The Ambient Century" will be flying in from London to make a featured presentation at AMBIcon.

On the production front, we've hired DELICATE PRODUCTIONS to do sound and lighting for the event. They are an experienced crew with absolutely state-of-the-art equipment and we will be in exceptionally good hands. We are building a live 5.1 surround system for the event. LYNN AUGSTEIN of Cobalt Sun Productions is designing the lighting and stage decor. It will be a unique environment for serious listening.

We are working on special discount offer for artists and label personnel whose music has been played on Hearts of Space. Please see our blog (blog.hos.com), Twitter feed (twitter.com/heartsofspace), or our Facebook page (facebook.com/heartsofspace) for details as soon as we have everything arranged.

For more information see the AMBIcon page on the Hearts of Space website...

Finally, we do expect to have a limited number of tickets for the 4 scheduled concerts available for sale to local Northern California residents. Our best guess is that they will go one sale in early April, about one month before the event…unless the event sells out by then.

So only northern California residents will be able to attend the individual concerts? SoCal and out of state are not allowed? I would like to attend two or all 4 concerts. So do I have to buy for the whole weekend event? $350-370 for non NorCal residents? It's a bit pricey just to see two or four shows. Don't you think?

Stephen's been consistently supportive of our tiny scene since the 80s, so I'd hardly begrudge him for how he wants to handle his own event. There is likely a very limited number of individual tickets, and can understand why he might need to ration those tickets to local fans who do not need to book hotel accommodations and to artists who have been played on his show.

I would really like to see the Stearns set. I have seen Robert and Steve several times over the years so I'll probably just get a Stearns ticket if I can. Luckily I live nearby. Hope this works out. It would be great to meet some more artists and fans, and maybe a few Forumites.

phobos: Yes, budget permitting we are planning to videotape all the concerts and presentations and post them on YouTube.

dreamin4ever: The economics of doing a quality event like this are pretty daunting. This is our first one, and if it is not going to be the last we have to be very careful with our pricing and sales policies. For both our sake and the "user experience," we want to sell as many tickets to the full event as possible. So we've setup a tiered pricing system that favors those who make their decision early with a discount. Once we see how the full-event sales have progressed in the spring, we'll decide on the timing and pricing for the individual concerts. In the end we want to fill all the available seats with people who love the music and really want to be there, at prices that are rational for us and reasonable for this kind of event. Once they start, we will not limit the individual sales to Northern California residents; if you want to drive in from hundreds of miles away for one concert, that's up to you.

Now that I've seen the pricing for single concerts (2 artists), which is $70.00 basically, some comments:

I would never pay $70 for one concert. I know this is "the norm" these days with ticket prices skyrocketing. That $70 doesn't include travel costs and food for customers/attendees. For me (and I live in the Bay Area) one of these would run close to $100 when all is said and done.

Sorry to be negative, but I also feel there are some people on the roster who are bizarre choices for an "ambient" event, namely Stellamara, Hans Christian, and Stephen Micus. I'd categorize these as "world/jazz", not ambient. I cannot remember ever seeing a post on this forum about any of them. I'm not saying they are not talented or worthy in their own right, but I think spacemusic fans are gonna be disappointed when they realize they cannot see Steve Roach alone for a more reasonable price of $30-$35 because there's someone else on the bill.

I would like to see the option of attending one artist's performance, so I am paying for who I actually want to see. I would be willing to pay $40 for one performance of someone special like Michael Stearns or Steve Roach.

Unless this changes, I won't be attending the festival.

Most of the electronic music concerts I've been to, nobody was storming the doors to get in. This genre doesn't exactly attract the masses. It's not exactly the most exciting music to watch performed live. I think the pricing is going to change some minds on this one, although I'm sure some will be willing to pay premium prices for multiple sets or the complete festival.

The prices seem reasonable to me. This type of festival is unusual, and I don't think I've ever heard of a Michael Stearns or Tim Story performance at all, much less one in the Bay Area. I'll probably go to at least the Saturday shows, as I've spoken to Jeff Pearce and corresponded with Tim Story in the 80s when we we both started music-making, but have not met either of them. I also want to show my support for Stephen and his show, which has been on so long, it's easy to take for granted. At least John Boswell and Bill Douglas aren't headliners (if you know what I mean).

First, the selection of artists for this event was tied to the 30th and 40th anniversary celebrations of the Hearts of Space program, and designed to appeal to the core fans and serious listeners to the show. Future AMBIcon events (should we be able to produce them) would still target "Ambient" artists in various genres. In my view, it's more of a sensibility and a way of listening than a strictly defined genre. If it was a narrow genre, it wouldn't have taken Mark Prendgast 500 pages to tell the story of "The Ambient Century."

Second, even though the event wound up being called AMBIcon, a number of artists we attempted to book who might have better suited a strict definition of "ambient" were either unavailable or unaffordable or both. Sincere listeners may disagree over what to call the music of a particular artist. While Stephan Micus and Stellamara are often lumped together with World Music artists, neither of them nor Hans Christian could be characterized as having anything to do with Jazz. They don't play like or think about music like jazz artists.

What Micus and Hans Christian share in their solo work is a committment to creating contemplative experiences that I believe can comfortably be included in a slightly broader definition of Ambient. Stellamara has been asked to concentrate their set on their deeper, slower and more contemplative material, and I believe that any sincere fan of Ambient will be very satisfied with what they do. They are absolutely first class musicians and hearing them live is always a great experience.

Third, re splitting up the "dual" concerts into individual events: There are some logistical issues to solve, but we'll consider adding that option after we see the response to the sales of the dual concerts at the $65 price. We still have 7 weeks until the event, and we intend to do everything we can to make it accessible to everyone who would like to attend. Let's see if we can overcome your reservations;-)

This is going to be a great show and the lineup is a great representation of what this genre's all about. When I heard about this event I was thinking I'd love to be one of the performers as I live not too far away from the Bay Area but perhaps next year. I would love to participate and meet all these great artist's, fans and Forumite's.

I'm lucky to have a regular diet of delicious ambient music here at THE AMBiENT PiNG but this looks like quite a feast! If I wasn't a country and pretty-much a continent away I'd be in line for a heaping helping.

for anyone who might wonder what my set is going to sound like, here's a three minute snippet of one of the rehearsals I've recorded [soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/jeffpearcemusic/ambicon-2013-sample[/soundcloud]

.... and, yes, I'm particularly proud that I learned how to embed the soundcloud player...